Tuesday, January 31, 2012

It only takes a month

On New Year's Day, doubt had me in its grips.  I hadn't had a quality stretch of training since Pikes - a fairly long time to go without focus or goals.  I only ran 55 times in 112 days - that's 67 days off, vs. 30 or so in the previous 8 months.  I weighed in at a surprising 148 lbs - I was 140 in August.  Most telling, however, was how lethargic I felt when I actually DID get out the door.

These beast feeds upon itself.

I've been around the block enough to trust that a couple back-to-back quality weeks would silence the beast, and I would be back in control of my training.  Maybe a month or two behind my training from one year ago, but back in control nonetheless.

Thirty-one days later and I'm in a whole different place.  I considered January 2011 to be a pretty solid month, as I had a decent base of work under me going into 2011.  When I stacked it up against this year's first month, though, I liked what I saw.

  • 235 miles / 29k of climbing in January 2012
  • 222 miles / 15k of climbing in January 2011
  • 27 days running in 2012
  • 27 days running in 2011
  • 13 days crossfit/cross-training in 2012
  • 0 days in 2011


Furthermore, I'm shocked to find that some of my early-season tempo efforts have been faster at the same PE.  Today's 5 x 1000 (2 minutes active recovery) around Stratton Rez were done comfortably in 5:58 pace.  I did this same exact workout (give or take some reps) many times last spring, and usually found 6:10 to be about the right pace for an LT effort.  On the few tempo efforts I've put forth, I found a similar pattern - I'm comfortably about 10-15 seconds/mile faster.

Go figure.  I'm still a few lbs over fighting weight, especially for 100-milers.  Maybe 2011's miles are beginning to pay off.









2 comments:

  1. Nice! The weight loss is important. When I did Lt100 in '10 I was 158. Last year, '11, I was 144. Huge difference. Now I am about 140 and happy 29 weeks to go!

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  2. Hey Sean! It's Andrew. We ran together in San Diego last November. I saw your name on the list for the Badger Mtn 50K. My friend and I are running it too! See ya then! Glad to hear your training is going well (I saw your last blog post). If you need a place to stay in Walla Walla, you got one. (It's about an hour away from Richland). My email is gordonaz@whitman.edu I can email you my number so you can let me know if you're ever in this part of the country again. I'll take you on a run in the Blue Mtns. By the way, why the heck are you running Badger Mtn?

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